BCW Caboose

Painting and lettering the BCW caboose

I purchased an Athearn Genesis Ft. Worth and Denver (ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) caboose with the idea of painting it in the BCW scheme.

The backstory is that BN sold the ex-CBQ caboose to the BC&W in 1979, and the BC&W chose to keep the original paint scheme.

My initial plan was to patch the logo and reporting marks with white paint, then apply Buffalo Creek & Western lettering over the factory silver. But the project took an unexpected turn.

Painting

I started by masking the logo and reporting marks.

Then, I sprayed a coat of Vallejo White Primer.

After unmasking, the primer peeled off along with the entire Burlington Route logo.

I carefully scratched away the residue with a toothpick and cleaned up the surface.

I am not unhappy with the result, since I now have a blank canvas ready for decals to turn this caboose into one of the BC&W.

Lettering the BC&W caboose

I searched for a company that makes custom decals, and after designing the logo and lettering in Inkscape (an open source software), I sent them the file.

A few days later, the A4 decal sheet arrived in the mail. The quality looks excellent, and the price was reasonable.

Before applying the decals, I sprayed the areas where they would go with Vallejo Gloss Polyurethane Varnish. The first decals I applied were the BC&W reporting marks. Then, I added the Buffalo Creek & Western logo to the side panels.

Afterwards, I applied a coat of Vallejo Matt Polyurethane Varnish to seal the decals and create a surface for the weathering to grip.

In the 1970s, the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) required railroads to remove roofwalks from freight cars and cabooses used in interchange service. Since I model 1985, I mustered up the courage and removed roofwalks from a $80 Athearn Genesis caboose.

Weathering

Then, I started weathering the BC&W caboose. Since it’s a DCC-equipped model with an interior and red tail lights, I paid extra attention to the trucks and their metal pickups.

I used a mix of acrylic washes, enamel washes, and rust effects, finishing with a light dust coat applied by airbrush.

I painted the trucks with a 30:70 mix of Vallejo Engine Gray (71.408) and Dark Earth (71.029). Then, I airbrushed a final dark, diluted coat of weathering on the roof and sealed the entire finish with Tamiya Flat Clear (XF-86).

After that, I painted the wheels with Vallejo Rust (71.080), carefully keeping the paint off the treads.

Finally, I reassembled the wheels and tested the BC&W caboose on the programming track.